The Winston-Salem Twins were a long running minor league baseball team based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The first "Twins" team played as members of the 1905 Virginia–North Carolina League. The Winston-Salem Twins teams played in the minor leagues in the Carolina Association from 1908 to 1912 and the North Carolina State League from 1913 to 1917. The Twins had two tenures in the Piedmont League from 1920 to 1933 and again from 1937 to 1942.
The Twins won league championships in 1911, 1913, 1914, and 1928. The team's second tenure in the Piedmont League ended with six consecutive last place finishes from 1937 to 1942.
The long running "Twins" nickname reflected the two neighboring cities that first shared the franchise in partnership: Salem and Winston, North Carolina. The Twins played several seasons before the two cities merged to officially become Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1913.
The Twins were a minor league affiliate of the New York Giants (1932), Detroit Tigers (1937, 1941–1942), Brooklyn Dodgers (1938), and Cleveland Indians (1939).
For their duration from 1904 to 1942, the Twins played home games at the parcel that contained Prince Albert Park.
The Twins were preceded in minor league play by one team in 1892. The 1892 Winston-Salem "Blue Sluggers" played a short season as charter members of the South Atlantic League.
Following World War II, the Winston-Salem Twins were succeeded by a new franchise that resumed minor league play as new members of the Carolina League. The 1945 team in the Carolina League played as the Winston-Salem Cardinals from 1945 to 1953. The "Twins" nickname returned from 1954 to 1956, before Winston-Salem played under other nicknames as the franchise continued its long tenure in the Carolina League that lasted through 2020. Since 1945, the franchise has had continuous play, evolving to become today's Winston-Salem Dash of the South Atlantic League.
History 1892: South Atlantic League / First minor league season The cities of Winston and Salem first hosted minor league baseball in 1892, when the Winston-Salem "Blue Sluggers" played the season as charter members of the four-team South Atlantic League. The 1892 team was also referred to as the Winston Hornets or Winston Blue Sluggers. The Charleston Sea Gulls, Charlotte Hornets, and Columbia Senators joined Winston-Salem in the independent league.
In 1892, the cities of Winston, North Carolina and Salem, North Carolina were two separate neighboring cities and not yet officially formed as the one "Winston-Salem" city, although there was unity and partnership between the two cities. In 1913, a merger officially occurred after a public vote endorsed the forming of the new single city structure and name.
The South Atlantic League regular season schedule began on April 30, 1892. The league was short-lived and folded on June 10 after playing less than two months of the season. When the league folded, the Blue Sluggers were in second place with an 18–14 record. The Blue Sluggers were managed during their brief season by both William Maroney and Edward "Pop" Tate. In the final standings, the Charleston Seagulls finished in first place with a 20–13 record, finishing games ahead of second place Winston-Salem.
At age 31, catcher Pop Tate came to Winston-Salem after playing the 1891 season for the Lebanon Cedars in the Eastern Association. In his major league career, Tate played in 227 games for the Boston Beaneaters (1885–1888) and Baltimore Orioles (1889–1890), batting .218. In 1926, Tate Field in Pop Tate's home town of Richmond, Virginia was renamed in his honor.
In 2021, the Winston-Salem Dash franchise rejoined the South Atlantic League, 129 years after the region hosted a team in the first version of the league.
1905: First Winston-Salem Twins team
After a 12-season absence from minor league baseball, Winston-Salem resumed play during the 1905 season. The 1905 Virginia–North Carolina League began the season playing as a four-team Class D level league. The Charlotte Hornets, Danville Tobacconists, Greensboro Farmers, and the Salisbury-Spencer Twins teams were the league members to begin the season. In the era, the Class D level was the equivalent of today's Class A level leagues, and minor league teams did not have direct affiliations with major league teams.
The Salisbury-Spencer Twins team, which represented the neighboring cities of Salisbury and Spencer, North Carolina were members of the Virginia-North Carolina League to begin the 1905 season, before Salisbury-Spencer uniquely relocated to another two-city region of North Carolina. On July 17, 1905, the Salisbury-Spencer Twins team moved to the twin cities of Winston, North Carolina and Salem, North Carolina, playing its first game at Fairview Park on July 19. The team kept the "Twins" nickname, first coined in Salisbury-Spencer, after the relocation. The team finished the 1905 season known as the "Winston-Salem Twins" for the first time.
The Salisbury-Spencer Twins team began the season with Con Strouthers as manager. The previous season, Strouthers had served as the manager of the Augusta Tourists team of the South Atlantic League. With Augusta in 1904, Strouthers signed charter Hall of Fame member Ty Cobb to his first professional contract. In late May 1905, Earle Holt became the Twins' player-manager, replacing Strouthers prior to the relocation. Holt played professionally through 1909 and managing in the minor leagues through the 1911 season.
At the time of their relocation, the Salisbury-Spencer Twins had compiled a 32–60 record before the move to Winston-Salem on July 17, 1905. On August 19, the Virginia–North Carolina League folded. The Twins had compiled a 10–14 record while based in Winston-Salem. The Twins had compiled an overall final record of 42–74 at the time the league folded, ending the season while playing under managers Strouthers and Holt. The Twins finished their shortened season in third place, ending the season 14.5 games behind the first place Danville Tobacconists.
1908–1912: Carolina Association / 1911 championship After a two-season hiatus, Winston-Salem resumed minor league play in 1908, becoming known again as the Winston-Salem "Twins." The Winston-Salem Twins became a charter member of the Carolina Association, which began play as a six–team Class D level league in the 1908 season. The Anderson Electricians and Greenville Spinners and Spartanburg Spartans teams left the South Carolina League to join the new league. The Charlotte Hornets of Charlotte, North Carolina, Greensboro Patriots of Greenville, South Carolina and Winston-Salem Twins teams joined with the three others beginning league play on April 30, 1908. The six teams remained intact together for the five-season duration of the league. In 1892, Winston, North Carolina and Salem, North Carolina were separate neighboring cities. In 1905, Winston, North Carolina and Salem, North Carolina remained as separate neighboring cities, before the merging of the two cities in 1913.
Robert "Bobby" Carter was hired as the Winston-Salem Twins' manager for the 1908 season. Carter had been the player-manager for the Memphis Egyptians in the Southern Association for two seasons prior to joining Winston-Salem.
On June 12, 1908, the storied Shoeless Joe Jackson played for the Greenville Spinners against the Twins in a home game at Winston-Salem. In the first game of a three-game series, there were 800 in attendance as Jackson hit a home run and a triple in an 8–2 Greenville victory over the Twins. Jackson captured the Carolina Association batting title with the Greenville Spinners, batting .346 with a league leading 72 RBIs and 120 total hits. Playing for his hometown team, Jackson acquired his "Shoeless" nickname from the local newspaper in 1908 after playing barefoot in a game because his new baseball shoes weren't broken in and injured his feet.
The Winston-Salem Twins ended the 1908 season in fourth place in the new league's first season of play and the 1908 Carolina Association played a regular season without playoffs, which was common in the era. The 1908 Carolina Association final standings were led by the Greensboro Patriots and manager James McKivitt, who ended their season with a 51–38 record and were followed by the Greenville Spinners (48–36), Spartanburg, Winston-Salem Twins (41–48), Charlotte Hornets (40–47) and Anderson Electricians (32–53) in the final standings. With their fourth-place finish and 41–48 record, Winston-Salem ended the 1908 season 10.0 games behind first place Greensboro. Playing in 94 games for the Twins, player-manager Bobby Carter batted .317 with 41 stolen bases for the Winston-Salem.
With Bobby Carter returning as manager in 1909, the Winston-Salem Twins continued play in the Carolina Association and ended the season in fourth place in the final standings of the six-team Class D level league. For the second consecutive season, the Greensboro Champs (65–44) won the league title. Greensboro was followed in the standings by the second place Anderson Electricians (63–48), Winston-Salem Twins (54–52), Greenville Spinners and last place Spartanburg Spartans. With a final record of 54–52, the Twins ended the season 9.5 games behind first place Greensboro in the final standings as no playoffs were held.
Catcher Walter Schmidt played for the Twins in 1909, batting .260 for Winston-Salem in 89 games at age 22. After continuing play in the minor leagues upon leaving Winston-Salem, Schmidt did not begin his major league career until age 29. Schmidt played with the Pittsburgh Pirates (–) and St. Louis Cardinals (). Appearing in 766 major league games in 10 seasons, Schmidt had a .257 batting average, with 3 total career home runs, 234 RBIs and 57 stolen bases.
Schmidt's backup with Winston-Salem, catcher Bill Fetzer played for the 1909 Twins, batting .211 in his 40 games for Winston-Salem. Fetzer later embarked on a collegiate coaching career, serving as a college football, basketball, and baseball coach. He served as the head football coach at Davidson College (1915–1918), North Carolina State University (1919–1920), and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1921–1925), compiling a career college football record of 61–28–7. Fetzer also was the head basketball coach at Davidson for two seasons, from 1916 to 1918, coaching the team to a record of 18–11. In addition, he coached baseball at Davidson (1915–1919), North Carolina State (1920), and North Carolina (1921–1925), compiling a career college baseball coaching record of 128–75–5.
Pitcher Billy Laval played for the Winston-Salem Twins in both the 1909 and 1910 seasons, pitching to an 8–5 record for the Twins in 1910 at age 25. Laval became a rival manager in the Carolina Association following his two seasons pitching for the Twins. Laval had a lengthy tenure as a collegiate coach in football, basketball and baseball that overlapped with his professional baseball seasons. Laval was an athletic director and college baseball, college football, and college basketball coach. He held head coaching positions at Furman University (1914–1927), the University of South Carolina (1928–1934), Emory and Henry College (1936–1937), and Newberry College (1938–1950).Morris: Laval knew how to win, no matter the sport , The State, November 15, 2009. Immediately following his two seasons pitching for the Twins, Laval began a two-season tenure as the player-manager of the Spartanburg Spartans, remaining in the Carolina Association.
James McKivitt became the Twins' manager in 1910. After winning Carolina Association championships the prior two seasons as manager of the Greensboro Champs, the 1910 season was the final professional season for McKivitt at age 40. McKivitt had been the player-manager with Greensboro the previous two seasons, leading the team to the 1908 and 1909 titles.